THE THIRD round of negotiations between the US and the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) on a free trade pact between the two regions is due to be held in Washington DC from October 14 to 17. This follows the second round held in Johannesburg in early-August where agricultural and industrial trade, standards, customs procedures, rules of origin, trade remedies, and investment and services were the items on the agenda. Sacu is the first sub-region in sub-Saharan Africa with which the US is negotiating such a comprehensive trade agreement, according to the Deloitte & Touche indirect tax division, a result of the Sacu Agreement signed in October last year. For the second round, FTW was told: “The texts submitted by the US were used as a tool to facilitate these discussions.” “Sacu intends to submit its texts on these areas by the third round of negotiations.”
